Mr. Cuccinelli is not the first attorney general to articulate the
limits of Virginia anti-discrimination laws. His predecessors for the past 25 years have come to a similar
conclusion concerning cities and counties that wished to extend
protections to gay and lesbian residents. But colleges and universities
traditionally have been given broad leeway to set policy. These schools
have been havens for inclusive policies that often go hand-in-hand with
academic freedom. It's sad and telling that as one of his earliest acts
in office, the attorney general would actively reach out to enable
discrimination. His opinion would, in the words of a former governor and
current senator, Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), "hurt the ability of our
colleges and universities to attract the very best faculty, staff and
students and [would] damage the Commonwealth's reputation for academic
excellence and diversity."

Mr. Cuccinelli is certainly right about one thing: The Virginia
legislature has failed -- disgracefully, in our view -- to guarantee
protections to gay and lesbian residents of the state. If legislators
did their jobs, the attorney general's well-known views on the evils of
homosexuality would become quaint artifacts instead of the arbiter of
policy for what has been, until now, a first-class system of higher
education.

In related news: The president of The College of William & Mary says his institution will not rescind its anti-discrimination policies, reports Pam's House Blend. In a message sent to the university community, President Taylor Reveley wrote: "William & Mary neither discriminates against
people nor tolerates discrimination on our campus. ... We certainly do not
discriminate against people on such grounds, or tolerate discrimination
against them. This is the way we live our lives together at William
& Mary, because we believe this is the way we should live our lives
together. This is not going to change."